Ken Borland

South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer on Wednesday recalled openside flank Francois Louw and chose the uncapped duo of eighthman Duane Vermeulen and flyhalf Johan Goosen to open the possibility of a significant change in approach for the Springboks’ two Rugby Championship matches in Australia and New Zealand.

South Africa opened their Rugby Championship campaign against debutants Argentina, beating them 27-6 in Cape Town but without a try-scoring bonus point, before being held to a shock 16-16 draw in Mendoza last weekend.

Amidst massive criticism of the game plan the Springboks have employed so far this year, Meyer suggested some willingness to change on Wednesday when he gave first call-ups to Vermeulen and Goosen.

The 26-year-old Vermeulen has been a star for the Stormers with his powerhouse displays from the back of the scrum, but several injuries have prevented him from being chosen earlier for the Springboks.

The 20-year-old Goosen sprung to prominence in last year’s IRB Junior World Championship before making a prolific SuperRugby debut for the Cheetahs this year, until a serious shoulder injury ruled him out of action from the beginning of May until last weekend.

“Injuries meant we could not use Duane and Johan earlier in the season, but both have played Currie Cup rugby since their return and, after consultation with their respective provincial medical teams, we’re confident that they are ready to travel with us. While Duane and Johan are medically fit, their provincial coaches felt it necessary that they get more game time in the Currie Cup this weekend, but as we don’t have a lot of time to prepare and we need as much time with them as possible to get them used to our structures and game plans, the decision was taken to select them for the tour,” Meyer said in a statement released by the South African Rugby Union on Wednesday.

“I regard both of them as world-class rugby players. If it wasn’t for injuries, Duane would have been a Springbok long ago. I also believe Johan has a long career ahead of him at test match level and we will expose him when and how we feel it will benefit the player and the team best.”

The lack of a specialist fetcher in the Springbok squad had also been criticised, with Louw getting a summons from Meyer despite the fact that he now plays his rugby in England for Bath. A raft of injuries in South Africa’s loose forward stocks have also complicated matters, with veterans Schalk Burger and Juan Smith, Heinrich Brussow and new Stormers sensation Siya Kolisi all ruled out at the moment, while Ryan Kankowski is currently playing rugby in Japan.

“We were very keen to give Siya Kolisi an opportunity on this tour, but he is also out injured. Francois played at the Rugby World Cup last year and is an experienced player.  We opted for Francois because he is a specialist openside flanker, in the absence of Schalk, Heinrich and Siya, that can cover blindside and number eight as well, while he is also a very useful option in the lineout,” Meyer said.

South Africa’s young squad – 20 of the 28 are under 28 years old – will have to learn quickly from their mistakes in Argentina, where their dependence on physical dominance failed as the Pumas matched them in the collisions.

The inclusion of Goosen, who has a prodigious boot but can also spark a backline, and recalled World Cup centre Juan de Jongh suggests Meyer has heard the call for more creative play from his team.

Loose forward Keegan Daniel, who Meyer had suggested would see action against Australia, and utility back JJ Engelbrecht are the players omitted from the squad that went to Argentina.

Squad – Zane Kirchner, Pat Lambie, Bryan Habana, Lwazi Mvovo, Jean de Villiers, Francois Steyn, Juan de Jongh, Morne Steyn, Johan Goosen, Ruan Pienaar, Francois Hougaard, Jano Vermaak, Duane Vermeulen, Willem Alberts, Marcell Coetzee, Francois Louw, Jacques Potgieter, Juandre Kruger, Eben Etzebeth, Flip van der Merwe, Andries Bekker, Pat Cilliers, Tendai Mtawarira, Jannie du Plessis, Dean Greyling, Adriaan Strauss, Tiaan Liebenberg, Craig Burden.

The Sunshine Tour announced two new co-sanctioned events with the European Tour on Tuesday, bringing to six the number of tournaments to be played in South Africa during the 2013 Race to Dubai season.
The Nelson Mandela Championship, to be staged in association with the former South Africa president’s Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, will be held from December 6-9, while the Tshwane Open, backed by the country’s administrative capital, Pretoria, will take place from February 28 to March 3, 2013.
The Tshwane Open at the Els Club Copperleaf will have prizemoney of 1.5 million euro, meaning the winner will gain a two-year exemption on the European Tour, while the purse for the Nelson Mandela Championship has yet to be finalised, but Sunshine Tour executive director Selwyn Nathan said it would be “a minimum of one million euro”.
The Sunshine Tour also announced on Tuesday that the prizemoney for the Alfred Dunhill Championship, to be played at Leopard Creek from December 13-16, has also been increased to 1.5 million euro.
South Africa is now the country that will host the most European Tour events, with the South African Open, Africa Open and Joburg Open also being co-sanctioned events with the Sunshine Tour.
“I’m particularly excited that we have another two European Tour co-sanctioned events, as it shows the confidence one of the two major tours in the world has in us,” Nathan said. “It’s a really special day for us and we hope the stars will support these events. They show we have a face in international golf.”
Although the venue for the Nelson Mandela Championship has also yet to be finalised, Nathan confirmed that it would be held at one of two coastal courses – the Royal Durban Golf Club or Humewood in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. The head of the Sunshine Tour said they were in the process of making sure facilities at the two courses were all in order and they would be paying particular attention to practice facilities and hospitality capability.
“We are hoping the Nelson Mandela Championship will be held for a minimum of three years and it would be wonderful if it could stay in the same place. There are also a whole bunch of opportunities with international players who are in the country already to play at Sun City the week before,” Nathan said.
The Tshwane municipality’s executive mayor, Kgosientso Ramokgopa, said his council are guaranteeing R44 million (4.18 million euro) per annum for their tournament until the Sunshine Tour can find sufficient sponsors.

“The money we are guaranteeing is an investment we are making in ensuring coverage for Tshwane all over the world and it’s a small contribution compared to the budget for the indigent programs that will provide relief to the poor,” Ramokgopa said.

The Tshwane Open, which will be held at the Els Club Copperleaf for the next three years, will bring to an end a month of co-sanctioned events in Africa, including the Africa and Joburg Opens, before the tour returns to Europe.

South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer on Monday blamed the lack of experience in the Springbok side for their shock 16-16 Rugby Championship draw with Argentina in Mendoza at the weekend.

South Africa trailed Argentina, playing in the southern hemisphere tournament which was previously known as the Tri-Nations for the first time this year, for three-quarters of the test before a charge-down try by centre Francois Steyn allowed them to draw level.

“It was not good enough, it was unacceptable and I was very disappointed. But I always knew it would be very tough in the first year because of the inexperience of the side, a lot of them were playing their first test away from home.

“If we’re realistic, then there were only a couple of members of the pack who played in the World Cup. People underestimate Argentina, but their whole starting line-up plays in Europe and they are very experienced,” Meyer told reporters at Johannesburg International Airport on his arrival back from Argentina on Monday.

Meyer is missing a quartet of players who would have been in the starting line-up in veteran flank Schalk Burger, explosive hooker Bismarck du Plessis, loose forward Pierre Spies and experienced wing JP Pietersen, while stalwarts such as John Smit, Victor Matfield and Jaque Fourie have retired and Fourie du Preez, Bakkies Botha, Danie Rossouw and Gurtho Steenkamp are not playing rugby in South Africa.

The Springbok coach will announce his squad for their Australasian leg of the Rugby Championship on Tuesday, but Meyer said there would not be a raft of changes.

“It’s easy to say throw people out and pick new ones, but that’s not coaching, that’s picking. I’ve been in this position a few times as a coach and the easiest thing is just to cut players, but that won’t move you forward. We’ve already lost a lot of leadership and then you’d be throwing out what little experience you’ve got.”

Meyer admitted that taking on Australia in Perth and New Zealand in Dunedin in their next two Rugby Championship fixtures would be a more daunting prospect requiring a much improved performance from the Springboks.

“The next two games will be even tougher and we have to improve. I know we can do it, but the only way the side will improve is by coaching them, improving their technique and mental strength,” Meyer said.

South Africa suffered from a distinct lack of continuity against the Pumas, who dominated the breakdowns, but Meyer said the make-up of the loose-trio – three big, physical players in Willem Alberts, Jacques Potgieter and Marcell Coetzee – was not the problem. The Springboks have a top-class fetcher flank in Heinrich Brussow, but he has not been selected by Meyer and is currently out injured.

“Argentina are also very physical and it’s not just about the loose trio. It’s the whole pack and also the backs who have to contest the ball, and the Pumas flooded the breakdown. It’s more about numbers and technique,” Meyer said.

The Springbok coach suggested some of Argentina’s ball-stealing was illegal.

“I coached a few of their players while I was at Leicester, so I knew how tough it would be. Argentina have finished third in the World Cup and New Zealand could only score two tries against them in Auckland last year. They’re especially hard to play against if they slow down your ball and they don’t play like teams in SuperRugby.

“It was a different interpretation and Argentina competed a lot, threw numbers at the breakdown and got their hands on the ball to slow it down. Our guys were used to SuperRugby for 16 weeks and now players were flying into the rucks from all areas. But we should have done better with our clearing.”

Meyer admitted that it had been a case of the Springboks’ discipline also letting them down.

“Argentina had a lot of PR and emotion behind them, but I was very disappointed with our discipline because we knew they would come hard at us and get the crowd behind them early on. Because of our discipline, we’d concede a penalty and they would start mauling, which makes life very difficult. Away from home, your discipline needs to be impeccable, but we got very frustrated, which is part of the inexperience. It was a very hostile environment and there was off-the-ball stuff, especially at the breakdown. But there’s no excuse, this team needs to grow up,” Meyer said.

Rain forced the opening one-day international between England and South Africa to be abandoned without ever really getting going at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on Friday.

 – http://www.supersport.com/cricket/sa-team/news/120824/Rain_spoils_first_ODI

England openers Ian Bell (26*) and Alastair Cook (10*) had charged to 37 without loss midway through the sixth over when the match was stopped for the last time and eventually abandoned at 3.45pm local time.

South Africa captain AB de Villiers had earlier won the toss and elected to bowl first, but his charges had to wait four-and-three-quarter-hours to eventually get on to the field due to rain.

When play did eventually start at 3pm local time, Morne Morkel was able to bowl just a single delivery – a leg-side wide – before Sophia Gardens was once again enveloped in misty drizzle and the action was stopped for another nine minutes.

An initial reduction in overs to a 24-overs-a-side match then became 23 overs per team, of which England were able to face just 5.3 before the game was called off.

Cook and Bell, neither of whom are in England’s T20 squad, struggled to score in the first three overs before Bell played some inspired strokes as he collected two fours and two sixes in 18 balls.

He certainly seemed pretty clued up about how to go about opening the innings in a 20-odd overs innings.

Morkel conceded 19 runs in his three overs, including a pair of Bell sixes in his last over, while Lonwabo Tsotsobe conceded 18 runs in 2.3 overs.

South Africa had included debutant Dean Elgar and Ryan McLaren in their starting XI, but unfortunately neither of the all-rounders had the chance to further their reputations.